You can now vote for our "Distributed Ground Station Network - a global system for tracking and communication with small satellites as an open service" at the Audience Award of the European Space Navigational Challenge, where our idea competes with other great ideas, what can be done with global navigational satellite systems like Galileo.
We could need your vote there!
So go to galileo-masters.eu, login and search for DGSN and you will find us there. And please, leave a +1 vote there! We really appreciate it!
http://www.galileo-masters.eu/index.php ... award.htmlDistributed Ground Station Network - a global system for tracking and communication with small satellites as an open service
The Distributed Ground Station Network (DGSN) benefits everyone by allowing virtually anyone to participate in space progammes without even leaving Earth.
You can be a part of a global network of ground stations connected to your PC and one another via the internet to receive beacon signals and even real science data from satellites. By participating, you can help small satellite missions to increase their Earth coverage and give them the opportunity to gain an almost permanent connection from the satellites to mission control centers. Normally, this is done with a few main ground terminals with limited satellite visibility in the sky and a very limited budget.
The DGSN has the potential to provide communication links to small missions; facilitate tracking of small satellites; offer important positioning data to satellite owners; and serve as an additional, faster alternative source to existing agencies and private services.
The DGSN can bring a small but important component of space missions directly to people, and in return, people will benefit from direct and indirect mission results or the further purposes of the DGSN. When you are able to track satellite beacons, you can also track other flying objects with on-board beacons; even a skier on a snow-covered mountain who is wearing a jacket with a built-in beacon could be tracked in case of an avalanche, where every last position can help safe lives.
Andreas
http://aerospaceresearch.net/constellation/